HARRISBURG, Pa. — Fire ripped through a row house in central Pennsylvania Monday night, killing five people, including four children aged between two and four, authorities said.

Flames already had engulfed two white brick houses in uptown Harrisburg by the time fire crews arrived minutes after the alarm, which sounded between 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Fire Chief Robert Talloni said.

Philip Seymour Hoffman withdrew a total of $1,200 from an ATM at a supermarket near his New York City apartment the night before he was found lifeless in his bathroom with a syringe still in his left arm, sources told NBC News.

"When it involves children, it's very upsetting," Hartman told The Patriot-News. "Many of the firefighters are parents themselves."

Hartman also said the fire spread vertically as well as horizontally, and that fire crews found three victims on the second floor and two on the third floor of the house.

The Patriot-News reported that according to fire officials, the blaze left four other people homeless.

Fire officials said the home — 625 Forrest Street — had smoke detectors, but they were not functioning. They said at least four homes appeared to have been made uninhabitable.

Firefighters spent 45 minutes battling the blaze before bringing it under control, and at the height of the fire there were more than 50 firemen at the scene, The Patriot-News said.

State police and city and county investigators were at the scene, along with investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives, to try to figure out the cause of the blaze.